It appears that Mr. Obama wants to rekindle a modern form of the WPA established during the Great Depression to begin repairing our existing infrastructure of highways, parks, dams, etc.  One of the important things that we need to track is his proposal to rebuild the Nation's electrical grid by implementing Smart Grid technology.  To support this highly sophisticated grid, it will be necessary to build a nationwide high speed broad band data system to track and control electrical production, distribution and usage.  This data network will certainly have the capacity to handle many other National needs.

Another infrastructure plan is to push Internet access out to everyone in the Nation.  This may or may not be related to the Smart Grid project.  Clearly, it is not feasible to expand existing fiber to all points of the Nation.  Wireless data will need to play a very heavy role in this development.  The real kink in previous plans has been rural USA.  It would seem that the only existing solution for a true high speed broadband rural network is a point to point/point to multipoint wireless system.  It is no secret that I believe that a similar system needs to be in place to provide limited route redundancy and backup for existing fiber networks.

These two stated plans in conjunction with a proposed environmentally green effort are really something for the techies of this Nation to get excited about.  When we rebuild our highways, will we include wireless data connectivity for those who will travel them?  Well, that's another subject for future discussions.

Let's watch the news, and help to support this effort.  It is the opportunity that we have been looking for to facilitate this Nation's influence in worldwide technology and economy.

Folks from Texas are familiar with the "The Eyes of Texas", the alma mater of the University of Texas at Austin.  For those who may not be familiar with this song, the lyrics are as follows:

The eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the live long day.
The eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them,
At night, or early in the morn'. 
The eyes of Texas are upon you, 
Till Gabriel blows his horn!

The lyrics carry considerable more validity today as surveillance cameras are multiplying at an astronomical rate.  Chances are that you are within the coverage of a surveillance camera more than 50% of the time that you walk through your community.  Ownership of these devices is split between public and private entities.  To date, most of these cameras are not interconnected in any way and are certainly not available to First Responders.  Most of these cameras are placed with a single purpose in mind and are seldom monitored by anyone unless a problem arises that makes their recorded information important and then considerable time is necessary before the video can be recovered and made available to those who need it.

Everyone knows that video is a bandwidth hog...or is it?  Many improvements have been made in recent time to reduce the bandwidth of video signals...and video does well over the Internet.  Suppose for a moment we were to install a high capacity Digital Video Recorder in your community and through a series of "Interlocal Agreements" with institutions in the area we were to tap the video from all of the surveillance cameras and store it in this DVR for 24 hours. 

This system could then provide us with two major tools.  First is a limited record of what each of these cameras saw during a 24 hour period and second, possibly the most important, First Responders could have this video available to them when they respond to a call for service...providing of course there is a high speed wireless system available to them.  The IP link to the video would show up with the Computer Aided Dispatching system's call for service.

Imagine, police responding to a bank robbery in progress with video available from the bank.  We really needed such a system at Columbine and Virginia Tech.  How important would these signals be to a group responding to a terrorist act in progress, or a natural disaster?  Why haven't we done this already?  Probably because in most communities we don't have broadband wireless systems in place to complete the loop from the cameras to the DVR and from the DVR to the First Responder...the same system that can meet the needs of most other government operations in the area.

This would be a major undertaking in any community.  However, the results would save lives, reduce crime and improve economic development. 

Just some thoughts for you...

Leonard Scott

Suppose for a moment, you are looking through a mystical portal into the not to distant future and you find yourself watching a Water Department repair crew just clearing from a previous call for service.  The Forman receives an urgent assignment via his laptop computer for a broken water main at the intersection of Main and First Streets, about the busiest intersection in town.  Before the crew truck begins to roll, the Forman pulls up the GIS on the laptop to the intersection of the call and selects the water distribution system overlay.  He is looking at all the distribution pipes in the immediate area and determines that only one could be the cause.  He places his curser on the pipe icon on the map and "left clicks his mouse".  This action brings up the nomenclature of the 20" main including brand, when installed, expected life and repair kit requirements.  The Foreman then activates his asset management system to reveal the availability of the needed repair kit in the Water Department warehouse.  Finding none in stock, he orders one to be drop shipped from a neighboring City.  This is all accomplished as the crew leaves the location of their previous call...pretty slick huh?

Upon arrival to Main and First, the excavation begins and the break is revealed.  Rather than traveling to the scene, the Water Department engineer has the Forman activate a wireless Internet capable camera to walk him "virtually" through the break and discusses requirements for the repair of the pipe.  In the meantime, the repair kit arrives, the repairs are made and the engineer approves the work through another "virtual" assessment of the repair.  The hole is covered, the road repaired and water service restored, all within the same working day!

This example of field access to GIS files can be repeated throughout the organization.  The more information made available to field forces through GIS improves their efficiency many fold.  The combination of a GIS system, an asset management system (CMMS) and a work order management system is a real time saver and waste killer.  Many cities are currently working to establish this combination with wireless access and some have already achieved the ultimate.

Leonard Scott

Welcome!  Come in and take your place in this roundtable discussion of the realities and possibilities of Municipal Wi-Fi.  I have long since learned that on every occasion I have had to speak to groups throughout the world I have learned many new things from my audience and I am very much looking forward to learning from you.

I don't hold myself out as a Wi-Fi technical expert nor do I propose that I have all the answers regarding Wi-Fi's potential in the future of our world.  I am a strategist and come to you as an assistant to cast reflection and insight onto all aspects of this subject.  I have for the last couple of years used a comparison of Municipal Wi-Fi and Municipal infrastructures that have developed throughout history. 

I find the comparison of a Municipal Wi-Fi system and a Municipal Road system very useful in demonstrating the importance and potential usage of WiFi.  Imagine for a moment that you are working with a municipal planning group ~200 years ago.  Cities were developing at a rather rapid pace with the onset of the industrial revolution and roads were not being maintained or possibly had no improvements whatsoever.  To keep pace with economic development, the thought of the day was that cities would need to develop road systems to allow for the efficient public transportation and the distribution and availability of goods and services.

Who would build such a system of roadways?  How would they be funded?  Who would maintain them?  Who would use this system and what restrictions/regulations would need to be developed to insure that the system would be available for its intended use?   Who would enforce these regulations?  How would the system be expanded and what would trigger expansion?  How would these roadways interconnect to the developing state and federal road systems and to the Railroads?  When new and more efficient ways to build and surface roads are developed, how can existing roads be brought up to date using these new methods?

Wow, Fun thoughts huh?  Now let's look around ourselves for cities that did not establish and maintain Municipal road systems to see what they look like!  Don't see any do you?  What you do see are some very large successful municipalities that were early adopters if an organized transportation system and smaller cities that were probably slow to adopt or left out some of the necessary components.  Without our transportation system, economic development and our quality of life would have been severely and negatively impacted.

We are at a point in our development that wireless data or Wi-Fi has become a necessary part of our wellbeing and a prerequisite to our future development.  Many cities have already recognized this and are working to develop systems.  Other cities are exploring the possibilities while many have not yet pondered the thought (wonder where they will be in 200 years).  The debate is underway between forward thinkers and those who don't want to be bothered, both sides being equally important in the planning and development of Municipal Wi-Fi systems.

Each week I look forward to bringing you another thought provoking chapter in this developmental process.  And, more importantly, to spend time each week learning from your comments, questions and suggestions.

Leonard Scott